This invention relates to a handled thermosplastic bag structure and individual packs of a plurality of such bag structures.
In the recent past, thermoplastic handled grocery sacks have begun to compete with kraft paper grocery sacks, which still dominate the market by a large margin. Thermoplastic grocery sacks have many advantages over the conventional kraft paper grocery sack. Included among these advantages are: superior tear strength; being completely waterproof, and not subject to failure when contacted with liquids; the convenience of handles; faster loading than kraft paper bags; has more and better secondary use capabilities; has greater density and, therefore, will occupy less space, than kraft paper bags; etc.
A conventional manner of providing such handled thermoplastic sacks is to arrange them in a lay flat stack of 50, 100 or more, and bond them together by way of tabs which extend upwardly from the bag mouth opening. This tab, in addition to providing the site at which the plurality of bags are bonded together, also constitutes the tear-off site of each bag from the bonded tabs. These bonded tabs also provide the site from which the pack of bags can be suspended from some suitable support means. For example, a peg or similar suspension means may extend through an orifice in said tabs. U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,832, issued Aug. 28, 1979, the subject matter of which is, in its entirety, incorporated herein by reference, is an example of the type of thermoplastic grocery sack which forms the subject of the instant invention.
This type of thermoplastic handled bag, particularly in pack form and when suspended by the above-described central tab arrangement, leaves the individual collection of handles unsupported and in a limp state of disarray, which tends to slow down the act of dispensing and loading individual bags. Any means of keeping the bags in an orderly stack during transportation or in use, particularly during dispensing and filling, would clearly be an advance in the art.